A few weeks back, we were invited to Activision HQ in Sydney, to have a hands on experience with the new Skylanders Giants - before it was released to the general public. Excitement plus for a little boy!

Here are my 2 little posers, with the giant Spyro in the reception area of the Activision building.





This was the first time Sam had a play with Skylanders and he was immediately hooked. It’s amazing how quickly kids pick things up and Skylanders Giants is aimed at his age group.

If you have a primary school aged child, you will no doubt have heard that Skylanders Giants is now here and available in stores.

Skylanders Giants once again merges the physical world of toys with the virtual world of games through the portal of power.

It’s a very clever game where you begin with the starter pack. The starter pack includes the Portal of Power plus 3 Skylanders toys.





Here is Sam, gleefully clutching his new game. I think he looks a teensy bit excited, don’t you?





If you have the original Skylanders from last year, you can still use the toys on the new portal, but can’t use the new toys on the old portal. Clear?




The game's plot is centered around the backstory between how the ancient Skylanders, who are the "Giants", were separated from the rest of the normal sized Skylanders. We spend the game, chasing after a bad guy called Kaos with Flynn (the pilot of an airship) and Cali.

In my opinion, Skylanders Giants is a fun game (yes I’ve sat and played with Sam). You have to defeat the bad guys and the more you defeat, the more experience you have and the more you level up and become stronger.


PRO’s:

The Skylanders toys are not overly expensive, so they make for good bribes.

The toys can play on all consoles. For example, we have a Wii so Sam’s little friends, Billy can come over and bring along his Skylander toys and they can play together (with the 2 Wii controllers). Sam can take his Skylander toys and go over and visit Billy, who has a PS3 and can play with his Skylander toys. Make sense?



The Skylanders Giants, Portal of Power hooks up directly to the Wii (or whatever console you have) which means that you don’t need to go through tonnes of batteries like the previous version.

Skylanders toys have magic memory and remember everything. If kids level up their toy at home and use it on a friends console it remembers all of their stats.

CON’s:

Time wastage. Before you know it, you’ve been sitting there with your son playing for 3 hours and wondering where the time has gone… or is that just me?

 
With thanks to ACTIVISION, I have 6 fantastic prizes to giveaway to some lucky Samelia’s Mum readers (and just in time for Christmas).
Please enter via the Rafflecopter below
 

1. Open to **Australian residents only.**
2. Giveaway will close on **14 November 2012**.
3. The judge’s decision will be final and no correspondence will be entered upon.
4. [Samelia’s Mum](http://www.sameliasmum.com) will take no responsibility for any delay, loss or damage to prizes sent to winner/s.
5. Winner/s will be announced on the Samelia's Mum Facebook page and/or contacted by email.


Disclaimer: No payment was received for this post. I did however, receive a  Skylanders Giants Starter Pack for review. All opinions are my own or of my family.